Visualization of asymmetric wetting ridges on soft solids with X-ray microscopy

Su Ji Park, Byung Mook Weon, Ji San Lee, Junho Lee, Jinkyung Kim and Jung Ho Je ()
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Su Ji Park: X-ray Imaging Center, Pohang University of Science and Technology
Byung Mook Weon: School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT), Sungkyunkwan University
Ji San Lee: X-ray Imaging Center, Pohang University of Science and Technology
Junho Lee: X-ray Imaging Center, Pohang University of Science and Technology
Jinkyung Kim: X-ray Imaging Center, Pohang University of Science and Technology
Jung Ho Je: X-ray Imaging Center, Pohang University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract One of the most questionable issues in wetting is the force balance that includes the vertical component of liquid surface tension. On soft solids, the vertical component leads to a microscopic protrusion of the contact line, that is, a ‘wetting ridge’. The wetting principle determining the tip geometry of the ridge is at the heart of the issues over the past half century. Here we reveal a universal wetting principle from the ridge tips directly visualized with high spatio-temporal resolution of X-ray microscopy. We find that the cusp of the ridge is bent with an asymmetric tip, whose geometry is invariant during ridge growth or by surface softness. This singular asymmetry is deduced by linking the macroscopic and microscopic contact angles to Young and Neuman laws, respectively. Our finding shows that this dual-scale approach would be contributable to a general framework in elastowetting, and give hints to issues in cell-substrate interaction and elasto-capillary problems.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5369

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